useInfiniteQuery does not refetch on mount even with refetchOnMount: "always" (but useQuery does)

[zdila]

I'm seeing a strange difference between useInfiniteQuery and useQuery regarding refetchOnMount.

Expected

When a component unmounts (so the query has 0 observers) and then mounts again, useInfiniteQuery should refetch on mount when:

• The query is stale
• refetchOnMount is set to "always" (or true)
• enabled: true

This works correctly with useQuery.

Actual

With useInfiniteQuery:

• Devtools show:
  • The query becomes inactive (0 observers) after unmount → good.
  • After mount: 1 observer, state = stale, refetchOnMount: "always", and refetchOnWindowFocus: false.
• However, no network request happens on mount.
• fetchStatus stays "idle".
• Only window focus triggers a refetch (if enabled).

The same configuration with useQuery does refetch correctly on mount.

Environment / Extra context

• "@tanstack/react-query": "^5.90.10","@tanstack/react-query-devtools": "^5.91.1"
• React component definitely remounts (useEffect(() => console.log("MOUNT"), []) fires).
• No global staleTime overriding behavior.
• No custom retry, enabled: false, etc.
• Using the standard getNextPageParam, nothing unusual.
• Using an ORPC wrapper (infiniteOptions) but Devtools confirms the observer does receive the correct options, including refetchOnMount: "always".

Devtools snapshot on mount

• refetchOnMount: "always"
• refetchOnWindowFocus: false
• Query is stale
• 1 observer
• Status: success
• Fetch status: idle
• _optimisticResults: "optimistic"

Question

Is this a known limitation or bug with useInfiniteQuery?
Is there any documented difference in how refetchOnMount works for infinite queries vs regular queries?

Or is this possibly related to optimistic results or observer lifecycle?

Any guidance or workarounds would be appreciated.
(For now I'm manually calling refetch() on component mount.)

[TkDodo]

show a minimal reproduction please. useQuery and useInfiniteQuery are both based on useBaseQuery so they are expected to behave the same in this regard.

My first guess is you’re using the same queryKey between an infinite query and a normal query and that errors out somewhere.

[zdila]

Thanks for your answer.

I use @orpc/tanstack-query which creates the key for me:

  const notificationList = useInfiniteQuery(
    orpc.notifications.list.infiniteOptions({
      input: (offset: number) => ({
        offset,
        limit: 32,
      }),
      initialPageParam: 0,
      getNextPageParam: (lastPage) => lastPage.nextPageOffset,
    }),
  );

I will try to find a time to create minimal testcase.